§ Mr. Austin Mitchellasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food whether he will publish in the Official Report a table showing for each horticultural
Apples Pears Cauliflowers Tomatoes Value Quantity Value Quantity Value Quantity Value Quantity (£) (tonnes) (£) (tonnes) (£) (tonnes) (£) (tonnes) 1970–73 — — — — — — — — 1974 — — — — 121 6 — — 1975 — — — — — — — — 1976 1,928 54 948 25 — — 15 0.6 1977 — — — — 13,263 405 — — 1978 20,806 605 — — 219,792 6,098 — — 1979 406,584 10,647 126,266 2,582 2,300 51 — — 1980 491,772 11,167 36,312 891 57,183 1,289 111 4 1981 834,862 16,438 11,254 180 — — 189 5 Note:—means nil.
Source: United Kingdom Intervention Board for Agricultural Produce.
§ Mr. Austin Mitchellasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food whether he will publish in the Official Report a table showing for each of the three sections of the horticulture industry, in the form of an index based on 1970, the growth in volume of production each year since 1970 and the reason for the change since 1970.
§ Mrs. FennerThe information requested is given in the table below:
Index of United Kingdom Horticultural Output 1970 = 100 Vegetables Fruit Non-Edibles 1970 100 100 100 1971 102 102 99 1972 106 94 99 1973 108 88 100 1974 111 94 98 1975 104 75 104 1976 93 77 103 1977 109 66 94 1978 116 76 96 1979 108 84 97 1980 109 77 96 1981 (provisional) 112 67 93 Source: Annual Review of Agriculture—Departmental Net Income Calculation.
Each of the three categories covers a wide range of horticultural produce. It is not possible in aggregations of very differing crops to determine with any certainty how the yearly fluctuations in output—both upward and downward—indicated by these figures in the period 1970 to 1981 might have been influenced by the many different economic and other factors that could have come into play.